PORTLAND IS YOUR LAND

Welcome to the paper of record for your music scene.

RIFF CITY Standing in the wings of the Aladdin Theater last Thursday during a taping of the OPB radio show Live Wire!, I was sweating. And I don't sweat unless I'm dancing.It wasn't the fact that I would soon b ...   More

 

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 MARK BAUMGARTEN

MusicfestNW Diaries '05

Where we were, who played, what happened, and sometimes why.

RIFF CITY

The rise and fall of the great pop hopes that ruled Portland's early-'90s music scene.

MUSICFEST DISTRESS

Forecasting a weekend of missed opportunities.

Music Stories Planning, for me anyway, is a task committed in vain. Take this weekend's MusicfestNW. A complicated maze, the festival will feature 200 bands playing at 20-plus clubs from Thursday to Saturday. Add i ...   More

 

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 MARK BAUMGARTEN

JOHN, NOT JOHN

There's history in John Weinland's name, but you'll also hear its echos in the Portland folk-pop band's brilliant music.

Music Stories First off, John Weinland is a band, not a man. But there's a story here: John Weinland is led by a gentle-voiced singer whose family name is John Weinland. John is his father's name, and Weinland is h ...   More

 

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 MARK BAUMGARTEN

Cheap Eats 2005

ALL PDX POP, ALL WEEKEND LONG

For the second year in a row, local music festival spreads the love.

Music Stories It's an odd feeling to see 27 bands perform in one weekend and still feel guilty because you didn't see the other 22 bands that played. It's abnormal actually, unhealthy even, but you wouldn't know it ...   More

 

Wednesday, August 10, 2005 MARK BAUMGARTEN

WHO ARE WE?

Don't listen to the journalists. Listen to the music.

Music Stories Music writers. Sigh. Sometimes you might want to spare some sympathy for us keyboard-pounding music geeks who, when forced to make sense out of something as abstract as music, take shortcuts, make ass ...   More

 

Wednesday, July 20, 2005 MARK BAUMGARTEN

WHEN IN FOAM...

What do you get when you mix soap, water, a room full of 18-year-olds and a long-haired guy in a sports coat?

Music Stories "Do you want to go foam dancing with me and my friends tonight?" That sentence stared at me from my computer a few Wednesdays ago. And for about two minutes, I stared back at it. Eight years ago, when ...   More

 

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 MARK BAUMGARTEN

THE COURT OF ROCK 'N' ROLL

How the Supremes accidentally saved music.

Music Stories Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter got it all wrong. When he wrote the opinion for the court's decision last week in the case of studio giant MGM vs. file-sharing developers at Grokster, his words ...   More

 

Wednesday, July 6, 2005 MARK BAUMGARTEN